How To Become a Friend of God

Today [21 August, 2021], the Holy Shabbat of Yahveh, is a beautiful sunny day.  As I prepared to go for Shabbat Service at our Teshuvah Worship Centre, YAH reminded me that we’re in the Hebrew month of Elul.

According to Jewish tradition, Elul is the month of soul-searching, heart-searching, repentance and teshuvah in preparation for the coming High Holy Days of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.  It is a time where YAH is telling us “consider your ways” [Haggai 1:7], take a stocktake of your life, what you do and your lifestyle.  And come to a place of repentance and surrender to YAH.

Hebrew sources say that Elul is acronym for the phrase “Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li” – meaning “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” [Songs of Songs 6:3].  Seen as love poetry between two people, the sages say “beloved” refers to YHWH and this verse describe the loving and close relationship between YAH and Israel.  And is encouraging us to approach YAH not out of fear, but out of love.

It is customary to recite Psalms 27 throughout Elul.  So I opened my Bible to read Psalms 27, which I know verse 1 by heart “YAHWEH is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  YAHWEH is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

The Holy Spirit brought me instead to Psalms 25:14, which was also on the same page.  It says:

The secret of YAHWEH is with those who fear Him; and He will make them know His covenant”.

Another translation says:

The friendship of YAHWEH is for those who fear Him; and He makes known to them His covenant”.

Wow!  YAH is a friend of those who fear Him?  In the Bible, YHWH calls Abraham His friend [2 Chronicles 20:7;  Isaiah 41:8; James 2:21-23].  Why?  This is the secret [Genesis 26:5]:

“because Abraham listened to My voice and heeded My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and my Torah”.

There are three (3) types of Law:

  • The Commandments – are forever! The 10 Commandments.  Heavenly Constitution and for every government on earth;
  • The Statutes – forever connected with holiness and worship. The protocols for worshipping YAHWEH in Spirit and in Truth.  Worship through the Holy Spirit that gives life.  Restoration of the Tabernacle of David worship is directly related to the restoration of Israel.
  • The Precepts – are eternal principles. Ruach Elohim continues to give us precepts, even today.

Abraham was blessed to be the heir of the everlasting covenant because in faith he kept the Torah and commandments of YHWH.  This proves that the Torah was present here at the beginning of the Covenant and was not added at Mount Sinai 430 years after the Covenant was made with Abraham.  Only the Levitical priesthood was added later [Galations 3:17].

Yeshua also said “I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his Master does. But I called you friends, because all things which I heard from My Father I made known to you” [John 15:15].  And He says “If you love, you will keep my Commandments” [John 14:15].  Yeshua calling us friends has to do with obeying His Commandments, just as Abraham did.

There are innumerable blessings associated with the fear of YAHWEH.  It is associated with holiness and worship [Revelation 14:7].  It is associated with our love for YAHWEH [Deuteronomy 6:4-6] as we obey His Laws out of love, and not legalistic.

The fear of YAHWEH is the beginning of knowledge” [Proverbs :7].  “The fear of YAHWEH is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” [Proverbs 9:10].

About YAHWEH’s unsearchable secret things, this is what the Bible says [Deuteronomy 29:29]:  “The secret things belong to YAHWEH our Elohim; and the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the Words of this Torah”.  “YAH reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” [Daniel 2:22].

When we fear YAHWEH and obey His Commandments as Abraham and Yeshua did, and taught us, YAH calls us His “friends”.  He reveals His secret things to us, and tells us hidden things which we know not [Jeremiah 33:3].  When we obey YAH’s Commandments, He gives us wisdom, understanding and knowledge.  He makes us peculiar and anointed.

How does YAH make His covenant knows to us?  YAH says this in Jeremiah 31:33

But this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel:  After those days, declares YAHWEH, I will put My Torah in their inward parts, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people”.

The Holy Spirit [Ruach HaKodesh] writes the Torah / Commandments on the tablets of our human hearts [2 Corinthians 3:3].  The Old Covenant is the Torah on tablets of stone.  The New Covenant is the function of the Holy Spirit, where the Torah is written on our hearts.

The Holy Spirit and the Word [Torah / Commandments] work together.  When we repent, teshuvah and allow the Holy Spirit to renovate His temple [which is our bodies – 1 Corinthians 6:19], let us ask Him also to write the Commandments of YAHWEH on our hearts.  That we may fear YAH out of love and reap the blessings of obedience.

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